Changing the Leader

My daughter's dance/theatre coach uses this game as part of their class.  The group is called Movimento!

Everyone is in a circle and the leader starts an action (clapping hands, stamping feet, turning round, ...).

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The leader can change the activity any time he or she wants.  Everyone in the group has to watch the leader to see what to do next.  For younger kids, this might be as much as you want to try.

Here's where it gets interesting.  Without saying anything, the leader lets someone else in the circle know that that person is now the leader.  It could be a wink, slight node, or even just a smile with direct eye contact.  Then the new leader can change the action any time until passing the leader role to a new person. The kids have to be paying attention to figure out who is the new leader and what action they should be doing now.

The kids have fun with the game.  More importantly, they are learning to pay attention to each other and non-verbal communication skills.

I was watching them perform with live musicians one time.  The musicians kept playing the verse instead of alternating the chorus and the verse. The young people on stage had to instantly adapt new movements to keep the performance going.  As one of them got an idea, she would take the lead until someone else was ready.

It was amazing to watch their creative use of skills that came from what I thought was 'only a game'.